Boston Fire Chief Steve Abraira said he is resigning. He says public criticism from his deputies for the way he responded to the marathon bombings has made it impossible for him to do his job.

By:The Associated Press, Published on Mon Jun 03 2013

BOSTON— Boston’s fire chief has resigned because of criticism from deputies for his response to the marathon bombings.

Chief Steve Abraira will be replaced after Friday by John Hasson, one of his chiefs of operation and a 40-year veteran of the Boston Fire Department, the department said.

Thirteen out of 14 deputies had complained to Mayor Tom Menino in a letter that Abraira’s failure to take command of the bombing scene was indefensible and part of a pattern of shirking leadership.

In his letter of resignation dated Monday, Abraira pointed out he had been hired 19 months ago to modernize the fire department.

“Your selection of me as Chief never had the support of a number of members of the Department who preferred that the Chief be selected from within the ranks of the Department itself,” Abraira said in the letter to the mayor.

He was the first Boston Fire chief hired from outside the ranks of the union, the Boston Globe reported.

“I think it is also fair to say that unfortunately a vocal and aggressive minority of the members of the Department did not support our efforts.”

Abraira wrote that he felt compelled to resign because “the baseless attacks by the Deputy Chiefs, especially their actions of making this a matter of public debate by leaking their letter of April 26th to the press, has made it impossible for me to continue to do my job.”

He says his command staff had control of the bombing scene and he acted appropriately, “within national standards” by not taking command at the scene, the Globe reported.

Abraira has threatened to sue the deputy chiefs if they continued their attacks, the Globe reported. The deputy chiefs countered that Abraira was trying to silence them before a City Council meeting on June 18.

Shortly after he was hired, Abraira, son of a firefighter, said in the 2012 fire commissioner’s newsletter: “This appointment is without a doubt the pinnacle of my career. I would have never imagined 38 years ago, as a 19-year-old rookie Miami firefighter, that I would be anything more than a tailboard firefighter let alone lead the Boston Fire Department.”